2016 Update Notes

2016-12-21 Release Notes

• Full and complete analysis of up to three finance options per solution - SolarNexus has historically provided a full and complete analysis of one PV system and one finance option per solution. Earlier this year we added the ability to define up to three finance options per solution, but only the primary solution had the full and complete analysis (cash flows, measures of value, graphs, etc). We have now completed the full analysis for up to three finance options, each with full results. A drop-down selector is now visible above the Project Cost breakdown in the Analysis results, allowing you to select which finance option's results you want to view.
• Full sets of Document Template variable outputs for each finance option in a solution - Along with providing a full analysis of up to three finance options for each solution, SolarNexus can now also output the full set of possible variable outputs that can vary based on the finance option.   
• Raw HTML mode for defining Document Templates - We have introduced a new mode for inputting/editing raw HTML code for document templates. The WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor used to define document templates disallows the input of other coded logic for use in creating template that can dynamically change content based on the data defined in a solution analysis. Since the WYSIWYG editor will dynamically attempt to "fix" what it sees as invalid code, any templates defined using the raw HTML mode cannot be opened/edited using the WYSIWIG editor. Its best to edit the HTML for these templates in a separate HTML editor and then simply copy/paste the content into the raw HTML code window for a document template in SolarNexus. The current WYSIWYG mode remains supported.
• When solution is sold, user indicates finance option used - Historically SolarNexus just assumed the primary defined finance option was the type of financing used when the sold milestone was completed. Now that a single solution has up to three finance options, the user must positively indicate what type of financing was used to sell the solution. This is done on the Sold milestone. If customer changes the finance option, you can click on the completed date for the Sold milestone, and update the sold solution financing.
• Optionally allow annual net surplus calculation for specific utilities or tariffs - Implemented ability to show net negative annual electric bills for cases where utility allows customer to oversize their PV system and get payments for their annual over production, such as for Xcel utility in Minnesota.
• Greater precision in percentages defined for Payment Schedules - Can now define payment percentages down to the hundredth of a percent, allowing a pre-defined payment schedule to more easily make periodic payments roughly equal.
• Implement a failover to a backup SolarDesignTool server for layouts - To improve resiliency, SolarDesignTool provided a backup server and we implemented an automatic retry to that backup server if the primary one fails.
• Performance tuning - Updated configurations on background worker queues (Resque) to reduce wait times.
• Bug fixes - A bunch. Examples include updating PV system output if measured roof orientation values are input on the site screen, PV overproduction estimate on old re-activated projects, etc.

2016-11-10 Release Notes

• New module orientation strategies for auto-layouts - To better fit a variety of array area shapes and sizes, and better accommodate cases where obstructions occupy parts of an area, a variety of new module orientation layout strategies are now available. Click here for details and samples.
• Zoom in and out during array area creation and array editing, then set image when ready  - SolarNexus no longer requires user to fix the view used for array area definition and array layouts. Users can now pan and zoom until they complete their design. Wherever the map image is left will be used for the site output image in documents. This new features is especially useful for larger scale systems. For example, when zoomed out too far the area vertex dots can cover some modules in the layout preventing them from being removed by the user. Now you can zoom in to remove specific modules, then zoom back out far enough to show the entire system.
• Refactored loan definition UI for payments and incentives - Cleanup presentation of loan program administration. Replace "pay tax credits" checkbox with a drop down to provide more options for defining payments of tax credits to finance company for lowering principal. Also fixed a couple edge case bugs. On Analysis screen, limit fields displayed for custom defined finance programs.
• Energy Use: Extrapolate missing load data for partially year billing period entries - Prior to this update, when a user entered energy usage via the billing interval-based method, the usage was converted to calendar months before running the analysis. Now the system gets the full year usage profile from Genability's usage profile using the exact billing intervals entered (even if there are missing intervals).
• Energy use: Extrapolate missing data for partial year Green Button files - Prior to this update, when only a partial year of interval data in an uploaded Green Button file, the annual usage was set to null no annual solar offset % was displayed. Now we complete the monthly modeling for the year based on the available interval data, and display the resulting annual solar offset %.
• Users with Admin or Sales Management permissions can limit milestone completion notifications to their associated projects - Prior to this update, if a user with admin or sales management permissions would register to receive milestone completion notifications, they would receive notification of mileston completions for ALL project. Now user can choose to only receive notifications for projects they are associated with. For example, suppose one person schedules appointments for all the sales persons. On completing the scheduling milestone, they want the sales person to receive the notification. If some of the users have admin and sales mgmt permissions, those users would they receive notification of all milestone completions.
• Project Settings page improvements - We've added a lot of features over time, and this page of default settings has grown oversized. To make it easier to use, We've added a menu to access the individual sections, and made it easier to use by limiting scope to specific topics.
• SolarNexus administrator reports - Project Summary Reports Reports across all user activity for standard milestones.
• Infrastructure upgrades - Add app server for various utilities used by the application (Redis, Resque workers, and Sphinx).

 

2016-10-26 Release Notes

• Project Log Enhancements - Simplified adding and viewing log note entries within the pending and milestone completion dialogs. Added a new Project Log section to the Management Panel in the Project Workspace, allowing you to more quickly see the last few project log entries and more quickly add a new note and change the current Pending status when looking at any of the Project Workspace screens.
• Removed Automatic Rounding of Contract Price - In response to many requests, we've removed the feature that automatically rounds the contract price to the nearest dollar. This change is carried through all downstream results, such as document template variables.
• Energy Use Enhancements - SolarNexus can now pre-calculate monthly/annual customer usage when you use the "Average Monthly Bill"-based input on the Energy Use screen so that the application can show an estimate of solar offset % during system design. Note that the average monthly bill approach is still the least accurate way to assess customer offset and should be your approach of last resort. SolarNexus also now provides a "Show Closed Tariffs" option to allow anyone to see and use utility tariffs that are no longer available to new customers, such as the Customer Grid Supply tariffs recently closed in Hawaii. This will enable you to complete projects for customers who already have CGS reservations, for example.
• UI Enhancements for Array Area Creation and Array Editing - Layout improvements and consistency of area definition and array editing help text. Also, if after creating array areas or restrictions you attempt to navigate anywhere without clicking Finish, SolarNexus will prompt you about saving or abandoning changes.
• Lead Capture Form Enhancements - Added "Best time to contact" field to lead capture form. When setting up the form, admin user can specify a value to set for the "pending" field when a new lead is created from the lead capture form, allowing the Pending field to indicate that initial contact needs to be made.
• Reporting Enhancements - To improve performance for reports showing large numbers of results, report output is now paginated. Also added "Best time to contact" to available report output fields.
• Incentives Auto-Calculate Capacity Based Incentive Amounts - You can define a custom CBI rebate that uses $ / W stc, or $ / W ac as the rate units, and SolarNexus will calculate the rebate amount based on the defined PV system ratings.
• Access AHJ Information from Installs Screen - Changed the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) names listed on the Installs screen into links that open the AHJ information you've defined under Resources in a separate window.
• Remove Deleted projects from Recent Projects List - No longer have to wait for them to age out of the list.
• Automatically Assign Project Roles on Completion of a Milestone - It can be a challenge to assign users to project milestones in an automated way. By auto assigning a user to a project role, subsequent project milestones can be auto-assigned to whomever is playing that role on each project. Now each milestone's definition can be configured to assign a user or workgroup to a project role on its completion. For example, you may wish to assign a user or group to act as project manager whenever a Sold milestone is completed. Then successor milestones, such as "Apply for Interconnection" can be auto-assigned to whatever user is playing the project's "Project Manager" role.
• Third Party Integration Enhancements - Added a new webhook for reporting on project creation events. Added new customer info element to "project_create", "general_project_info_update" and "participant_update" events. Created a New Lead trigger in our Zapier application which exposes the application source as a lead field so that leads originating from a specific source can be filtered.
• Subscription Refactoring - Some refactoring of the subscription billing features to take advantage of new subscription upgrade/downgrade features in the billing system vendor's application.
• Bug Fixes - a variety of fixes.

 

2016-10-12 Features, Enhancements, and bug fixes

• Estimate annual load profiles from single month inputs - When you have limited access to a customer's annual load data and utility energy prices vary seasonally and potentially by volume, its difficult to accurately estimate customer bills and savings. Now when given only a specific month's usage, or an "average" monthly use value, SolarNexus can construct an estimated annual monthly load profiles for your customers. If you know the load for a specific month of the year, you can use the Calendar Months input on the Energy use screen and input only the usage for the month(s) that you have data (12 months are not required). The service will extrapolate the expected customer load profile for the other months based on the specific month (or months) of customer usage entered, the zip code, and the type of building. When using the average monthly input, SolarNexus will convert that to an annual value (multiply by 12) and then scale a standard annual load profile for the zip code and building type.
• Reports-Summary dimensions and columns for proposed and sold solution data - Reports can now summarize by proposed or sold module manufacturer and model, and can show projected value of sales funnel, stats on proposed and sold solutions, and stats on solution price breakdowns.
• Add Project Log entry when updating Pending field - When updating the Pending field from either the Sales screen or within the Status pane of the Management Panel, you can also see the last several project log entries and can add a new one. This simplifies the collection of notes, particularly for inside sales activities.
• Array Editor Enhancements and bug fixes - Array editor prompts you if there are unsaved changes to an array. Fixed several bugs in edge cases.
• Explicit parameter in Finance Programs to pay first year tax credits to finance company - When using payment factors to calculate payments, the definition of principal for payment calculations was decoupled from whether or not the first year tax credit incentives will be paid to finance company. This was implemented to make it clear to users that the tax credits would be paid to finance company and to support a particular finance company who defines their payment factors against full loan amount even when the tax credits are expected to be paid to the finance company.
• Enhanced first year average electric energy price variables - Clarified descriptions and added one new variable called "avg_price_solar_tpo", which is the average price per kWh generated from a proposed solar system when financed using a lease or PPA in year one.
• Added support for multiple webhook URLs per account - We extended our webhooks implementation to enable more integrations with with third party systems. From the Project Settings screen, a user with Administration permissions can define multiple webhook URLs on Project Settings page, each with a name for easy identification and what events trigger that webhook URL.
• Show accurate bill calculations for problematic Genability tariffs - SolarNexus uses Genability's utility bill calculation services which enables detailed bill breakdowns to be displayed. In a very small number of tariff cases (for example, Austin's VOST and Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant), Genability's service has incorrectly generated estimated bill amounts when simultaneously showing detailed bill component breakdowns. As a temporary work around for these tariffs, we have disabled the bill breakdown by component portion of the service (the populateCosts feature). The total bill amounts are correct, but we cannot show the bill component breakdown.

 

2016-09-28 Features, Enhancements, and bug fixes

• Custom Loan Program Enhancements - We added more options for defining the principal on which monthly payments for unsecured loans are calculated using payment factors. Added option to only include first year tax credits as the principal to model some split loan cases. Also added other option for the basis on which a loan fee is calculated - basis may be either the loan principal without OR with the fee. For example, a 10% fee may be either 10% of the price before the fee is added (e.g. contract price = price + (0.10 x price)), or may be 10% of the price plus the fee (contract price = price / 0.9).
• Doc Template Variables for Loan Fees and Price Without Fee - New variable preliminary_contract_price which is the "Retail price prior to addition of any loan fees or subtraction of collected rebates." Another new variable is fin_opt1_loan_fee, which is the upfront fees charged by finance company for loan used as primary finance option. Also provides same variables for second and third finance options. Using these variables, you can show a line item breakdown that shows either the loan fee as a fee, or as a "cash discount." For example, to show the cash discount you would show contract_price minus fin_opt1_loan-fee = preliminary_contract_price.
• Array Areas, can delete a mistakenly created area vertex - Can now right click on an array area vertex and delete the vertex. The array area polygon automatically connects the two points that the deleted vertex had connected.
• Array Areas, lowered sensitivity of "Snap To Existing Point" for array areas - In defining some array areas that are close but not touching another area, it was difficult to place vertices of the new area close to existing area vertices without automatically "snapping" to the existing vertex. We lowered the sensitivity to allow placing vertices closer together.
• Project Report Enhancements - Multiple enhancements to existing custom reports. Each report result now shows the number of projects in the result. For each project listed in a report, can click on the project log icon to view/add notes. For all date based filters (e.g. date created, milestone completed, etc), can now specify time ranges relative to the current time at which the report is being run (e.g. Today, Yesterday, This Week, Last Week, This Month, Last Month, This Quarter, Last Quarter, This Year, Last Year, Past 30 Days, Past 90 Days - see report builder for all options). Allowed a report criteria to be defined as a default value that can be changed, rather than only as a locked value. Also added report outputs for the primary proposed solution, including rated PV size, solution price, and price per watt, as well as proposed milestone completion date for criteria.
• Adjusted validations on loss parameters in PV Output Modeling - To provide more flexibility in modeling, Connections now allows up to 5%, Light Induced degradation allows up to 5%, Mismatch now allows up to 5%, and Nameplate rating now allows up to 10% loss.
• Docusign permissions enhancement - On the Project Settings screen, if the user has selected a Designated Company Signer, an additional checkbox can "Disallow selection of a different Designated Contract Signer" so that individual users can not select a different signer when sending a document.
• Added a Warning that certain milestone definition changes may take several minutes to propagate - Users with administration permissions who edit milestone definitions (new successors / predecessors and deletions) can take several minutes to be reflected in existing projects.
• Deployed Project Summary Reporting, did not activate UI - Deployed project summary reporting that aggregates milestone activity and status metrics by project segment. UI to be "turned on" following additional testing.
• Fixes for several bugs

 

2016-09-16 Features, Enhancements, and bug fixes

• Array Layout Editor Enhancements - We made significant updates to the remote module layout features in this release. Enhancements include: simplified pre-layout array configuration form, new compact tabbed form for editing individual arrays, allow regenerating individual array layouts, and several other small usability changes.
• Workgroup Managers - We added the notion of a workgroup manager to workgroups. A workgroup manager essentially has the same permissions as a global sales manager, but limited to the scope of users in his workgroup. This is really handy when you have multiple sales teams, each with its own manager. 
• Directly Run Reports with Fixed Criteria - For reports that have no user selections, report will be directly run, rather than having to first go to the set criteria screen to run it.
• Project Documents - sorting - You can now choose to sort documents alphabetically or by age.
• Enterprise Accounts, Agency level administrator can edit user profiles - Users with administration permissions within an agency account can edit the profiles of users within the same agency account. No need to depend on Master level administrator for these duties. Agency admin is still restricted from adding users, however.
• Fixes for several bugs

 

2016-08-22 Features, Enhancements, and bug fixes

This release provides substantial enhancements to project management features.

• New Workgroups feature - We’re proud to announce availability of the new Workgroups feature. A workgroup is a named group of users. Workgroups provide a means of designating a lead or project for assignment to a user within that group. The individual users within the group can view all the leads / projects designated for his group, and can manually assign themselves to the relevant project role on an individual project. A Workgroup can be assigned to a project role (for example, Sales Owner = workgroupName, or Project Manager = workgroupName). For example, show projects on Installs screen where Project Manager = "Project Managers" workgroup. Project Managers in the workgroup can filter this view and see the list of projects that need a specific project manager (or other role) assigned. A user in a workgroup can open a project assigned to the workgroup and then change the project role from the workgroup to himself (for example, make himself the project manager). A user with administrative or global sales management permissions can create and edit the membership of a workgroup.
• Re-factored DocuSign features - We’ve re-factored our DocuSign features to make using E-signatures easier. Now a user with administrative permissions centrally enables the DocuSign integration for your account from the Project Settings screen. A single default "Company Signer" is designated for all Docusign E-signatures. We’ve removed the "DocuSign Integration Enabled" from each user’s Profile screen. The administrative user specifies which account users are enabled for DocuSign use. When a user enabled to use DocuSign to get E-signatures sees the DocuSign icon on the Documents screen of a Solution, the user can specify the designated company signer, which defaults to the centrally designated company signer. To accommodate all the changes, we have deprecated many of the existing document template variables for e-signatures and replaced them. The old variables still work, but we encourage any custom documents to be updated to use the new e-signature variables.
• Show milestone due dates in status panel and project milestones page - On the milestone definition page, you can enable Completion Deadlines without necessarily enabling timeout notifications or enabling the display of deadlines on project pages. When disabling the display of deadlines on project pages, deadlines won't show up in the status panel, in the project milestone list for a project or in the Assigned Projects list on the dashboard, however you can still filter / view them in reports. For milestones configured to show due dates, when a project milestone in the Status > Next Steps section of the Management Panel has a due date, the due date is shown, with an extra visual indication of whether it is overdue. On the Project Milestones page, if a project milestone is not complete and has a due date, the due date is shown, with an extra visual indication of whether it is overdue. On My Information > Assigned Project Milestones, if a project milestone has a due date, the due date is shown, with an extra visual indication of whether it is overdue. From both the Status panel and the Project Milestones page, users with sales management or administration permissions can click on any displayed due date to edit the date. The normal Milestone completion lightbox displays the due date, if any, with an option for sales mgrs / admins to edit it. This is sort of a backdoor for administrative users to reset the due date if it has previously been cleared, since there won't be a link to the due date in the status panel once it has been cleared.
• Identify projects that have an overdue milestone - We've now made it simple to identify projects that are in need of attention, based on overdue milestone(s). The Sales and Installs screens now include a filter that shows only projects where a selected milestone is overdue. When creating/generating a report, you can filter by Overdue Milestone, selecting to see projects where a specific milestone is overdue or any milestone is overdue. Only milestones with completion deadlines enabled are available to select from. When creating a report, you can select new output columns to show the due date for each project milestone with timeout notifications enabled. In the resulting report, the due date column will show a value for a project milestone if the milestone is not complete and a due date (timeout value) has been set. When creating a report, you can select new output columns to show the overdue date for each project milestone with timeout notifications enabled. In the resulting report, the overdue date column will show a value for a project milestone if the milestone is not complete and a due date (timeout value) has been set and it is past due.
• Filter projects on Installs screen by user playing a Project Role - Quickly see the list of projects where user X is the Project Manager, Engineer/Designer, Site Surveyor, or Foreman. When applied, only projects where the selected user or workgroup holds the indicated responsibility are shown.
• Project Manager role permitted to assign other project roles - A user assigned to the Project Manager role on a project is allowed to assign users to all project roles except the Sales Owner role.
• Report criteria and output includes all project roles - Report criteria has 'Project Manager', 'Engineer/Designer', 'Site Surveyor', and 'Foreman' as filter options, selecting the projects. Reports can now output columns showing users holding any of the project roles: 'Project Manager', 'Engineer/Designer', 'Site Surveyor', and 'Foreman.' Note that ‘Sales Owner’ role already existed for both report criteria and output.
• Control visibility of document templates - This feature provides a way to control what document templates a user can select from when generating documents. You can hide document templates that are currently in a draft state, as well as limit which set of SolarNexus published templates you wish to use. From the Document Templates screen, a user with administrative permissions can create a list of individual document templates that users will see when generating documents. Any combination of SolarNexus published and custom templates can be specified. Users can only select from actively visible doc templates.
• Allow user with the same email for different accounts, but only if just one of them is active - allows a user (defined by Email address) to be moved from one account to another as long as only one user is currently active.

 

2016-08-08 Features, Enhancements, and bug fixes

SolarNexus continues to flesh out its all around contracting business operations suite with this set of new features and enhancements.

• Help and Support tab Removed - The Help and Support tab which has been located at the lower right of the screen for years has been retired. The newer Show Me How widget, also on the right side of the screen now provides access to all the help features. You can "Report a problem or feature request" by clicking the new topic at the top of the Show Me How Help tab. You can still access the traditional Help Center interface via clicking the link at the bottom of the Show Me How widget or simply clicking the Help link in the application's banner (next to the logout link). Use the Show Me How's search bar to locate all Help articles, and of course the best way to onboard new users is by leveraging the walk-thrus for new user training.
• New "Company Documents" feature - Use the new Company Documents feature to store and maintain a central library of documents used by multiple members of your team. Your team members can easily access and download copies of marketing materials, company proof of insurance, manufacturer spec sheets, etc whenever needed. The new Company Documents feature is available from the Resources menu. You must have administrative, sales management, or resource management permissions to add documents, but all users may access the documents. With the addition of this shared document repository, SolarNexus truly removes the need to have a subscription to a third party document storage service for your company's shared documents.
• Document Tag Management enhancements - The management of Document tags has been moved to the Company Documents screen. Tags can be applied to both Company Documents as well as to individual project documents as they have before. You can now delete a tag globally, even if it was used to tag any existing project documents.
• New "AHJ Documents" feature - Now you can add documents such as permitting forms to each AHJ record. For example, you can pre-complete and scan a copy of each of your AHJ application forms and attach to your AHJ record in SolarNexus. Whenever you have a project in that jurisdiction, your employee can simply open and print out the application form from within that project's Project screen so that the user just needs to fill in the customer info into the application. This feature further completes SolarNexus' document management features and provides a truly complete way to manage all your AHJ information in one place. Mark your project's AHJ on the Project Screen and have access to all that AHJ's information and docs from within the Project screen.
• Payment Schedule enhancements - Update UI to clarify that percentages for payments subsequent to the first payment / deposit are a percentage of the remaining balance after the initial deposit. Since some states limit the maximum deposit that can be collected (i.e. can be a fixed dollar max or a % of contract amount), the final payment balance can be too large if we make all payments a percentage of the contract amount. System now allows a zero percentage or payment amount.
• Basic search includes primary contact phone number - To search for customers via phone number used to require opening the advanced search tool. Now contact phone numbers are automatically indexed for search. Just input the phone number into the search bar and see results.
• Share Worker's Comp Insurance information via Company Information screen - Your employee's routinely need your company's worker's compensation insurance information for a number of business purposes. We've added fields for you to publish your worker's comp insurance information to your Company Information screen, where it is viewable by all your employees from the Resources menu.

 

2016-07-20 Features, Enhancements, and bug fixes

• Rename Documents - You can now rename project document filenames from the Documents section of the Management Panel.  
• Updates to PV Output Modeling parameters - Now that SolarNexus is fully using PVWatts for estimates, we've moved the PV output modeling parameters from the Analysis screen to the PV System screen in the solution. We've also re-worked the way derates are defined to match PVWatts UI. This makes it much simpler to verify outputs against PVWatts. The PV Output Modeling features now provide the ability to specify a desired weather station for use in estimating.
• Enhanced AHJ information / View AHJ details within a project - To assist with permitting, SolarNexus is providing a centralized library for all your AHJ information, making it simple to maintain and access by anyone on the team working on permitting. All users can access this library of your key permitting information from the Resources menu. Also when you specifying the AHJ for a given project, all information about that specified AHJ becomes available within the project via a new View Details link on the Project screen.
• Company Information available from the Resources menu - All users now have easy access to centralized information about the company that can be used in various administrative and marketing tasks.
• Reorganized Administration menu and screens - Moved "Subscription" to top level menu item. Updated "Lead Management" menu item name to "Lead and Project Data." Moved content of Custom Fields, Document Tags, Status Change Reasons, and Import Completed Projects to the Lead and Project Data screen. Removed the "Account Management" menu item and screen.
• Allow Import of 15 Minute Interval Data - As yet, our bill calculator through Genability does not support intervals finer than 1 hour. If an interval file is uploaded to SolarNexus with 30min or 15min intervals, SolarNexus will aggregate the data into 1 hour intervals for bill calculations.
• Enhancements for supporting Austin's Value of Solar Tariff (VOST) - We worked with our bill calculation partner to provide support for calculations of Austin's Value of Solar Tariff (VOST). Note there are some limitations. While the annual bill calc and cash flows are accurate, a bug impacts the calculation of the values in the monthly_loads table, which in turn impacts at least the following graphs, which will show inaccurate data: Annual Electricity Consumption, % of Consumption Produced by Solar, Post Solar Energy Mix, PV Energy Output.
• API - set milestone completion date only if not already completed - Added a `revise_completed_at` parameter to the milestone update API. When true (the default), the API would update the completed_at attribute based on the completed_at parameter as normal. When false, the API would only update the completed_at attribute if not already set. If the milestone hasn't already been completed, then revise_completed_at should be ignored, as, by definition, it is meant to only control whether an existing completed_at date is revised.
• Bug Fixes - A variety of bug fixes were fixed.

 

2016-06-30 New Features and Enhancements

• New Array Area Drawing Manager - As a follow-up to allowing you to change array area shapes following layouts, we've implemented a new drawing manager that provides you some new benefits, and some small behavior changes. The most important thing to know is that WHEN DRAWING A ROOF AREA, DOUBLE-CLICK ON THE LAST POINT TO CLOSE THE POLYGON. Another significant new enhancement is that two adjacent Array Areas can share the same vertices (or corners). For example, when adding a second area, you can now select existing vertices of the first polygon so that the areas share a boundary. Adjusting a shared vertex modifies both polygons.  NOTE: when drawing a new area, any shared lines with an existing area will only move together AFTER the new area wizard is completed (name, orientation line and roof pitch selected). So right after drawing the polygon, but before pressing Next, moving a shared vertex won't alter other areas.
• Auto-update PV derates when DC optimizers are used, modify micro-inverter derate updates - Currently already updated system losses when micro to remove mismatch and DC wire losses, and mismatch losses when DC optimizers are used. Now we also automatically adjust shading losses to account for the Shade Mitigation Factor (SMF) of DC optimizers and micro-inverters. No more worrying about modifying derates when using string and micro inverters in your company. Annual average derate from shade (R) is adjusted as follows: R + (1-R)*0.33. Also inverter efficiency for DC optimizer systems is the product of the inverter efficiency * optimizer efficiency.
• New document variables for lifetime costs - The new document template variables no_project_lifetime_cost and project_lifetime_cost show the customers total costs over the entire analysis period. We already provide a variable to output the project's lifetime savings (the difference between these two new variables).
• Date Signed" variables for Docusign - New variables allow Docusign to input the current date when the customer E-signs a document.
• Bill estimates calculated using full Green Button Data - Earlier versions of SolarNexus summed interval data in each month of Green Button data and passed 12 individual summarized months of usage to our bill calculation provider. Now we pass the hourly intervals to our bill calculation provider, making bill estimates even more accurate especially for customers on time of use tariffs.
• Access Control Enhancements - Admin users may restrict non-administrative users from being able to download report results to CSV file. A basic read only user can now be given ability to complete milestones, update pending status, and creat project log entries without being able to edit other parts of the project.

 

2016-06-15 New Features and Enhancements

• Adjust array area shapes after getting array layout – Now as soon as you see your automated array layouts, you may click on any roof area vertex and adjust its position. You’ll be prompted to re-select the orientation line, and then the system will regenerate your layout. This will greatly improve the process when a layout is returned with a partial row or column of modules.  Usually a small adjustment to the area’s shape can correct the layout.  This will not force any changes to arrays in other solutions that you’ve already created.
• Change array area orientation line after the area is created – In case an area has an incorrect azimuth due to a mistaken orientation line selection, you can now click the azimuth arrow for the area and then be prompted to re-select the orientation line. You can do this on the site tab, or even after generating an array layout.
• Remove an array after generating layouts – Now you can simply uncheck the “use” checkbox for an array after the layout is generated. This will remove that array from the system. The array may be regenerated to add it back to the system.
• Lead Capture Form can specify a post submit action – Allows a user to be redirected to another page following submission of the new lead web form.
• Tariff Selection Enhancements – clearer prompt for rates when using tariff with contract rates, filter out any non-solar eligible tariffs from post project tariffs when solution contains a PV system, enforce input of a custom proposed electric rate when a custom rate was input for customer’s current tariff (SolarNexus analysis only handles one or the other).
• Lead Capture Form can specify a post submit action – Allows a user to be redirected to another page following submission of the new lead web form.

 

2016-05-31 New Features and Enhancements

• View Electric Bill Details on Analysis Screen - Added a new view of detailed analysis results at the bottom of the Analysis screen. Click the drop-down selector and pick “Monthly Electricity Bill Details.” Now you can see the individual bill components with quantities and rates listed for each month for both current and proposed cases. Now you can see with great detail how the electric bill estimates were calculated.

 

2016-05-22 New Features and Enhancements

• DC optimizers are a supported product type in the Public Catalog - DC Optimizers are now a full fledged product type in the SolarNexus Public Catalog. Users can no longer add their own. Like modules and inverters, DC optimizers can now be added to your Company Catalog from the Public Catalog.
• Include DC optimizers in your PV system designs - When defining a system using a string inverter, there is now an option to select DC optimizers from your Company Catalog to add to the PV system. When using cost items, optimizer quantities are synched to the Price screen along with modules and inverters. New document template variables are available to output DC optimizers specifically (dc_optimizer_qty, dc_optimizer_mfr, dc_optimizer_model) as well as updates to the pv_system_description and modules_and_inverters_list variables to include DC optimizers if the system includes them.
• Completed switchover to new utility bill provider - We completed the switch to our new utility bill calculation provider, Genability. SolarNexus conducted the switch of providers to improve bill calculation accuracy and to enable future load profile modeling features. Users see immediate changes in tariff selections, with new tariff option inputs where relevant.
• Auto-update close probability with milestone completion - Configure milestones in the sales process to automatically update the close probability of projects when the milestone is completed.
• Expanded Recent Projects list - Recent projects list now lists up to 20 of the last projects you've accessed.
• Enhancements to Milestones API - The Milestones API now provides the ID of each milestone to enable matching milestone instances to notifications via webhook, and the API provides an optional filter to only return completed or current project milestones.

 

2016-05-12 New Features and Enhancements

• Add support for a second and third finance option in analysis - Can now add up to three finance mechanisms for each solution analysis. Useful for showing different finance options side by side within a single proposal. Associated document template variables are generated for all three options (for example, fin_opt2_monthly_payment, fin_opt3_period). However cash flows, measures of value, and associated chart outputs remain limited to the primary finance option.
• Webhooks for SolarNexus API - SolarNexus can proactively notify external applications of changes made to projects in the SolarNexus application using a POST to a specified URL. See SolarNexus API documentation for details. Notifications can be sent when any of the following occur:
  • Project data is changed
  • New document is added
  • Existing document is regenerated
  • Existing document is deleted
  • milestone is completed

 

2016-05-05 New Features and Enhancements

• Support for loan program promotional periods - Unsecured loan programs can now have a promotional term and standard term, each with their own payment factor for determining the monthly payment. Added output variables for the promotional term and monthly payment (fin_opt1_period_promo, fin_opt1_monthly_payment_promo).
• Fallback to using TMY2 data if PVWatts estimation fails for TMY3 - PVWatts occasionally fails when using TMY3 data. Automatically retry using TMY2 data to improve reliability.

 

2016-04-26 New Feature and Technology Upgrades

• Calculate loan program merchant fees using a percentage - You can now define loan fees as a percentage, and SolarNexus will automatically calculate the proper amount based on the loan fee basis (= Preliminary Contract Cost - collected rebates (if any) - customer down payment (if any)). When defining the loan program in Administration > Finance Programs, specify the loan fee to be calculated as a percentage, and input the default %.
• Complete Integration of Genability for Customer Bill Calculations - Significant refactoring of application internals to support use of a new vendor for utility bill calculations, and to enable new features for improved load profile modeling. No UI visible changes can be seen yet.

 

2016-04-13 New Features and Enhancements

• Pre-Tax IRR as an Analysis metric - The On-Grid tool popularized the use of a "Pre-Tax IRR" or rate of return. This pre-tax rate of return is a means of comparing a PV investment with other investments like stocks/bonds which quote returns prior to being taxed. These rates of return are based on converting anticipated bill payments to their "pre-tax equivalents" and then doing the IRR calcs. Its important to understand that no customer will actually ever see these returns because utility bills are paid with post tax dollars. Its just a construct that allows comparison to other investments that have yet to have taxes applied. This new metric is shown on the Analysis screen and can be output into a document template using the irr_pre-tax_fin_opt1 variable.
• Payment Schedules - Contracts typically define that a customer make progress payments over the course of a project. Since Payment Schedules are routinely defined in a small number of variations, administrators can now create default payment schedule definitions, defining project milestones and the associated percentage of the contract cost that is due. Then, from the Documents screen, a user can create a payment schedule for a solution using one of these pre-defined payment schedule definitions. SolarNexus will automatically calculate the proper payment amounts for each milestone payment. SolarNexus can then output the defined payment schedule into a generated contract using the payment_schedule variable.
• New Variable Outputs - Added ability to output loan principle (fin_opt1_loan_principle) and first year state tax credit amount (incentives_state_tax_credit_yr_1).
• PPA Finance Program Enhancements - Expanded input rate/kWh to four decimal places. Added doc template output variable fin_opt1_ppa_rate. Also added fin_opt1_annual_payment, which outputs first year anticipated payments, so that: bill_annual_savings - fin_opt1_annual_payment = bill_elec_plus_solar_annual_savings.
• Option to Exclude Increased Federal Tax Liability from Reduction in State Tax Payments from an analysis - Some customers assert that this is not an actual tax effect. However, it is clearly defined in SEIA's tax manuals and SolarNexus has always incorporated it as a tax effect. Despite this, SolarNexus now allows users to exclude this amount from a given analysis that has a state tax credit incentive, by checking a box in the Tax Options area of Analysis Inputs. We encourage consulting a tax professional in your state before using this option.
• Doc Template Image Library - To incorporate custom images into your documents, you no longer need to upload them to a web accessible service like Photobucket. Now each company can upload images for use in its document templates directly into SolarNexus. From the Document Templates screen, click Manage Images. Once a file is uploaded, just copy its URL for use in the <img src="URL"> tag in a document template.
• Maintain Generated PDF File Names as Input - Rather than converting to a more machine friendly version, we now allow keeping the file name that the user inputs, including capitalization.

 

2016-02-29 Feature Enhancements and Technology Upgrades

• Input historic customer bill amounts, optionally use as basis for pre-project utility bill costs - Instead of relying on SolarNexus to estimate customer's projected utility rate costs without solar using an estimate of their kWh usage, you can input the customer's bill amounts and have SolarNexus use those dollar amounts as the basis for the future cash flow projections for the utility case. Just input the bill dollar amounts on the Energy Use screen and tell SolarNexus to use those amounts when setting your Analysis input parameters.
• Sales and Installs pie charts on the Home screen - See current counts of projects you are associated with from the Home screen. Each slice shows number of projects that have reached a standard milestone in each phase.
• "Reply To" Email Addresses - When using third party milestone completion notifications, you can now define what specific Email addresses should be used if the third party replies to your notification. For example, you've defined that on completion of the Permit Issued milestone that you send an Email to the customer. You create an Email template using the Doc Templates, and in that editor, you can input the Emails that you'd like any customer replies to go to.
• Display distance from home office to site - Project screen now shows distance from your home office address to the project's site address.
• Admin user can re-order reports
• Remove formal support for solar thermal systems - Due to a lack of use of the solar thermal system features, we have removed support for them. The calculation engine we had used was complex and required too much setup and maintenance given the low usage. Most SolarNexus customers ended up using the far more flexible "energy efficiency" measure to define savings from solar thermal systems. SolarNexus will continue to support that mode for defining solar thermal or any other energy efficiency measures. Any existing solar thermal systems defined for older projects will continue to be viewable, however, no new systems will be added. 

 

2016-02-08 New Feature Enhancements and Bug Fixes

• View and edit document template CSS - A user with Administrative permissions may view and update the default CSS for the document templates used by your company. .
• PV Energy Modeling, specify different weather station than the closest to the site's zip code - You can specify a different zip code than the actual site's zip code to determine the weather station data used for estimating PV generation. Although not to be used routinely, this feature is useful for a few users where the actual TMY3 weather station that's closest to the customer site does not actually reflect the most similar weather to the customer's site. This happens occasionally in areas with micro-climates, sometimes with steep elevation changes. In the PV Output Modeling section, where derates are found, there is now a zip code field to override the zip code used for the PV Output Modeling.
• Edit Lead Quality from Sales Screen - You can now directly edit the lead quality from the Sales Screen without opening the project.
• Export Project Log data to CSV file - You can export a single project's log, or run a report to list multiple projects and output a single file listing all the project log entries for the projects in your report.
• UI Upgrades:
  • Hide "Incentive and Utility Interconnection Forms" from Docs screen
  • Loan Mechanism Enhancements: 1) When creating a new loan finance program, the "Add loan fee to contract price" checkbox should = true by default.
  • On Analysis parameters, added an info rollover next to the Loan Fee field that shows whether loan fee is, or is not included in contract price.
• New Account Setup Changes - removed Add Users, removed Account Setup Assistant from Admin menu, added Trial ends counter